In Costa Rica, IICA and ECLAC signed an agreement for the implementation of joint activities to promote improvements in the agricultural sectors and rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean.
San Jose, Costa Rica, April 16, 2013 (IICA). An international seminar on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture was held at the Headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). During the event, senior public officials, business representatives, and consultants specializing in the issue noted that greater use of ICTs called for public policies to promote them, a long-term vision to guarantee producers access, and public-private partnerships to increase connectivity in rural areas.
At the opening ceremony of the seminar, which was entitled Digital technologies for competitiveness, social inclusion, and sustainable development in Costa Rican agriculture, the speakers included Víctor M. Villalobos, Director General of IICA; Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Marta Villegas, Director of the Executive Secretariat of Agriculture Sector Planning (SEPSA), of Costa Rica’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG); and Otto Rivera, Executive Director of the Chamber of Information and Communication Technologies (CAMTIC).
Mr. Villalobos observed that the incorporation of ICTs into agriculture had already made it possible to increase productivity in the sector, distribute the benefits more equitably, and develop more sustainable ways of using natural resources. Other tasks remained pending, however.
“Latin America has made progress in promoting ICTs in the agricultural sector, but has yet to tackle a number of institutional and productive challenges. IICA and other agencies must join forces to identify bottlenecks and facilitate strategies designed to promote greater use of such technologies”, Villalobos remarked during the inaugural ceremony.
Alicia Bárcena emphasized the role that ICTs can play in increasing agricultural competitiveness and managing knowledge throughout production chains. The challenges posed by such technologies were related to both the supply and the demand, she noted.
“On the supply side, public policies and broadband are needed, while on the demand side the most important thing is education, since the use of ICTs is associated, for example, with age,” the Executive Secretary of ECLAC added.
Marta Villegas, of SEPSA, stated that in Costa Rica, the use of ICTs was included as a cross-cutting element in the 2010-2021 State Policy for the Agrifood Sector and Rural Development: “It is considered a part of competitiveness, but is actually present in all the areas covered by the policy, such as innovation and technological development, the management of rural territories and family agriculture, and the management of climate change.”
The international seminar, which took place from April 16-17, was organized to enable senior government officials, entrepreneurs, and consultants from Latin America to identify synergies that could be harnessed to increase the use of ICTs in agriculture across the region, particularly in Costa Rica.
“We are establishing a link between two very important productive sectors, agriculture and digital technologies, with a view to combining experiences and knowledge and identifying the needs and challenges of agricultural producers, and educating and informing the agricultural sector about the use of the digital technologies to raise productivity,” commented Otto Rivera, of CAMTIC.
IICA-ECLAC Agreement
Following the inaugural ceremony, Víctor M. Villalobos and Alicia Bárcena signed an agreement for future joint activities between IICA and ECLAC designed to promote agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Under the agreement, the two organizations aim to assist in the efforts of their member countries to speed up the competitive, sustainable, and inclusive development of agriculture and rural territories.
The cooperation will focus on areas such as productivity, competitiveness, social inclusion, climate change and sustainable management, agricultural innovation, the situation of women and young people in rural areas, and the integration of family farming into value chains.
The agreement will be in effect for five years and could be extended.
For more information, contact:
rafael.trejos@iica.int
